Sweet Little Child
by Sailor Gotland
Summary: Yamato has a terrible past... And Koushiro suffers from it. (yaoi, child abuse, rape, and hints of Jyoto, Taishiro and Daiken)
1. Sweet Little Child - 1

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad ****

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad. Really, really bad. I had this little plotbunnie that told me to torture poor Yamato as much as possible. And I did. This fic will contain incest/rape, child-abuse, and other dark subjects. Read at your own risk, please! 

Now, I _do_ know that Yamato and Takeru's dad is a really nice guy, and that their mother is sweet as candy, but I needed 'villains'… And I'm not the first one bastardizing poor Ishida-san, and I probably won't be the last… ^^;;

Another thing worth mentioning is that there will be some shounen-ai hinting.

Oh, and I don't have the faintest clue what the members in the Teenage Wolves are called. I made a few names up. Just humor me on this, please? ::puppydog-eyes::

A final thing: I'm not a native English speaker – waves tiny Swedish banner – so if my grammar suck, please bear with me…? 

****

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be struggling with my collage-bills. I would be in Japan, buying LOADS of anime and manga. So there! ^_^ I'm just borrowing the characters so that I can torture Yamato. I love that guy! ^^v

****

Sweet Little Child…

Closing the door behind him, Ishida Yamato wearily wiped a few droplets of sweat from his face. Putting the guitar away, the fourteen-year old flopped down on a chair and buried his face in his hands. He was tired, so tired. And he had failed. The Teenage Wolves had put so much faith in him, and he let them down. 

She hadn't shown. 

She hadn't shown, and it had caught him completely off guard, since Takeru had promised that she'd come to see him preform. He had spotted Takeru in the crowd, his arm wrapped around Hikari's waist. The girl had rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and her eyes had been bright and beautiful. 

But she hadn't shown. 

Yamato looked up, his eyes hard.

~Damn you, mom~, he thought. ~Why can't you even show me that you care a tiny bit about me? Because you don't? But why? Tell me what I've done to make you ignore the fact that you have two children, not just one! Damn you…~

The door opened and Masato stormed in, closely followed by the other band-members.

'Quite a show you put up there, Yamato-kun', Masato sneered. 'Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you preform, aren't you supposed to, like… preform? Not just stand there and stare?'

Shinobu crossed his arms across his chest and nodded.

'We made quite a spectacle of ourselves up there, Yamato-kun. All thanks to you! Do you have any idea what that will do to our reputation? We're screwed!'

Tsuru added his two cents:

'Do you have any idea how many people there are out there now, asking for their money back? We'll never be able to show our face in public again, you bastard! You have destroyed everything, don't you understand that? You selfish son of a… '

Yamato got to his feet, walking over and grabbing his guitar. He then made his way towards the exit, turning around in time to cut Tsuru off:

'Doesn't matter. You don't have to throw me out of the band, I'm quitting. I've had it with this crap anyway.'

'But you can't just walk out on…' Masato suddenly realized that he was talking to a closed door and decided to keep his mouth shut. 

* * * * 

Takeru stared at the cell phone in his hand. He couldn't believe this. He just couldn't believe this. Yamato had hung up on him, without even a word. This had never happened before. Takeru frowned, putting the phone away. 

He was in his room, a day after the concert. Daisuke sat on his bed, looking in a manga. Hearing the sound of the phone connecting with the table, the plum haired boy looked up, his face for once serious.

'And…?'

'He hung up', Takeru replied flatly. 'Without any explanation what so ever. As soon as he heard it was me on the phone, he hung up.'

Daisuke put the manga away and rubbed a bit of sleep from his eyes. Takeru was certain the other boy would say something, but he really didn't want to hear, so he shrugged and walked outside. He could hear his mother fuss about in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, he walked out to her.

'Mom?'

'Yes, honey', Natsuko said, turning her head. She made the dishes, since their dishwasher had broke a few days back. When she saw Takeru's troubled face, she withdrew her hands from the basin, wiping them on an already damp towel.

'What's wrong, Takeru?'

'You tell me, mom.'

This made Natsuko jump. Takeru sounded so… cold? No, he couldn't, not her little angel boy… Was he mad at her? She walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, motioning for him to do the same. He did, and never once did his eyes leave her face.

'I don't know what to tell you, Takeru', she begun carefully. 'I don't know what troubles you, so how can I…'

'Why didn't you come to the concert yesterday? You promised Yamato you'd come, and you didn't. Don't you understand that hurt him?'

Natsuko felt herself grow pale. Takeru glared at her, his eyes cold as ice. This wasn't her sweet little boy… Then his words began to sink into her head, and she - if possible - paled even more. Right, the concert. She had forgotten. Or rather, she had made herself forget all about it, it was more convenient that way. If she would have gone, then she would have been more or less obliged to say a few words to Yamato. And that would set her on a guilt trip like no other. She hadn't talked to her eldest son in almost two years, just barely saying a few polite words on Christmas and on his birthday. Other than that… 

Natsuko realized that Takeru still waited for an answer.

'Oh… I… I forgot…'

'You… Forgot?!'

Takeru stood up abruptly, his chair swaying and almost falling down on the floor. His eyes were not cold any more, now they burned with a hidden, blue flame that seemed to scorch her very soul.

'How the hell could you just forget about it? You knew how important this was for niisan, you knew that!'

'Takeru, dear… Watch your language…' she tried lamely, failing in her attempt to calm her eleven year old son down. 

'Screw my language, mom! I don't quite understand what the hell you're trying to pull off here, but I know that it's mean and evil, and that you hurt Yamato on purpose. And I hate evil doers, mom. I hate them!'

Natsuko stared at the stranger in front of her. She couldn't help but wonder what could have happened to Takeru for him to have such a… darkness inside of him. It frightened her. This rage that lashed out at her. It was that kind of rage that had made her divorce the boys' father seven years ago. Now that rage showed it's ugly face again, inside Takeru, her sweet little angel…

She felt her eyes fill up with hot tears, and she brought a hand to her mouth to keep herself from sobbing out loud. Confusion and desperation made her loose all kind of rational thought and without her even knowing what she was doing, she reached out and slapped Takeru on his left cheek. 

'No', she whispered. 'I… I didn't mean to do that, honey… I… Oh god…'

'That's okay, mom.' His voice was cold. So cold. 'Only a slap. I had a doll shooting with a real gun at me when I was eight. I think I'll live through this.' A smirk. And now her tears overflowed her eyes as she watched Takeru turn around and walk away from her. He continued:

'It's not I who need your apologies, mom. Yamato does. You've harmed him a lot more by ignoring something this important to him, than this slap has harmed me. You remember that, okay? Let's go…'

Go where? Natsuko blinked, when she suddenly realized that Takeru wasn't alone, that loud boy, what was his name… Motomiya? He stood with huge eyes in the doorway, he had undoubtedly heard the entire conversation. When the two boys left the apartment, Natsuko sat down at the table once more, and cried.

* * * *

Maybe he shouldn't have done it. Yamato sighed, staring into his third cup of coffee in just forty minutes. Outside the coffee-shop, people were passing by, everyone in a hurry, everyone with a goal. They knew what they would make of their lives. They knew why they did the things they did. Well, a lot of them knew anyway.

So why was he a failure? 

A failure in everything he did.

He still hadn't told his dad that he had quit the band. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad. His dad was always on his back concerning the band anyway. He spent too much time away from home, he didn't have the dinner ready in time, he spent too much money on guitar strings and other 'useless' things. 

So maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

The blonde boy shot a glance at his watch. Almost 03.00 PM, school would soon be out. Then he should be getting home, so that his father wouldn't find out that he was skipping class. Why was he doing it, anyway? He would only get himself chin deep into trouble. 

__

I need to talk to someone… Someone who might want to listen to me… Taichi is too brash, I can't handle that right now. Koushiro is a kid. It doesn't matter that he's bright as Einstein or something, he's still a kid and he wouldn't understand this. No way.

Yamato picked up his cell phone and called the only person he knew he could talk to, who would listen and hopefully come with some advice.

As someone answered at the end of the line, Yamato said:

'Hello? May I speak with Jyou-san, please?'

* * * * 

Jyou quickly began to clean up in his room. It was funny, he had never been a messy kind of person, but something had happened in just a few months, and now he always seemed to litter notes and other important stuff everywhere. He found an old paper he had done a few weeks ago and gotten a top score on, tucked underneath a sweater and the remains of a potato-chips bag. 

'Honestly', he muttered to himself. Then he sneezed.

He had been absent from school two days now, because of a nasty cold that didn't want to leave him alone. Jyou had hated it, he wanted to attend school properly, and he had been on his way to school today, when the cold got the better of him and he nearly fainted because of a sudden fever. He felt better now, and maybe it was a good thing that he had stayed home, if he hadn't been home, Yamato wouldn't have had the opportunity to talk to him.

Jyou only hoped that he could help. Koushiro had mailed him during the night, he had read the mail a couple of hours ago. Koushiro wrote that the blonde boy had quit his band without any explanation. And that he had seemed troubled at the concert. 

Jyou was worried, of course, and he immediately agreed on having Yamato over for a visit. The younger boy had sounded so happy, that Jyou actually felt slightly good about himself, in spite of the cold. 

The doorbell rang and Jyou quickly wiped his hands on a towel in the kitchen, before going out to open the door. Yamato stood there, dark rings underneath his eyes and he looked alarmingly skinny. _Is he starving himself? I think he looks thinner every time I see him… That's bad…!_

'Yamato-kun! Please, come inside! Pardon the mess, and, uh… Mom's away right now, and so is dad. We have the house to ourselves. Want some tea or something?'

Yamato removed his coat, mumbled that tea would be fine, then looked around, a smile on his face.

'Mighty cozy here, Jyou-san…'

'Thank you.'

Yamato flopped down on a chair in the kitchen, but Jyou shook his head.

'No. You don't talk well like that. Why don't we sit in the sofa instead? We could listen to some good CD if you want to. But maybe you don't want to hear music right now…?'

The blue haired youth shut his mouth, looking worriedly at his friend. Yamato only shook his head, smirking faintly:

'It's all right, Jyou-san. I don't break. You can talk to me about music, I really, really don't mind. And sure, we can hear something. But I bet your taste in music stinks…'

'Says you', Jyou smirked back, then went about to make the tea. Not looking at Yamato, he continued: 'Maybe you could pick a CD then, so that we only have to rely on your stinky taste, hm?'

'Shut it', Yamato grinned, but he did leave for the living room. 

Jyou watched his back a few seconds, his eyes going down to the tight black jeans Yamato wore. They fitted snugly around his small cheeks, and Jyou couldn't help but smile slowly to himself. Yamato sure was beautiful. And now the two of them were alone in the house. Jyou had to tell himself that he wouldn't make a move on Yamato. It was hard, the young musician - or whatever - was very hot, and it had been a while since Jyou last got laid. But there's hardly any chance he's into guys… All though he can act almost gay sometimes… Jyou's smile widened. Maybe he just had to find out. After Yamato had said what he wanted to say, of course.

Yamato had found himself a blanket at the time Jyou came into the living room, carrying a tray with the tea as well as some biscuits. He had crawled up on the sofa, pulling the blanked over him, and he looked absolutely adorable. Jyou didn't know if he wanted to go over to him and pat his head or kiss him on that cute, pouty mouth. He decided to do neither, and he seated himself on the sofa as well, handing Yamato a cup of tea.

'Okay', he said after taking a careful sip of his tea. 

Yamato, who nibbled on a biscuit, sighed, his eyes dark.

'I'm going to tell you something. Something that will upset you a lot. Or at least it should…' Here he shrugged, taking another bite and sipping some of the tea. 'I'm going to tell you the wonderful story about the life of Ishida Yamato. I have to tell you this, because I can't keep quiet anymore. I just can't… I'm so scared it will be too much for me, you know? And then I'll slit my wrists or something. And I don't want too… I mean, it would hurt Takeru too much! And then he'd be all alone with… Anyway, think you wanna listen?'

Jyou had paled during Yamato's little introduction of sorts. This was bad… Yamato was more or less telling him that he was on the verge of committing suicide. But why? Yamato, handsome, witty, charismatic Yamato who had almost everything he could ever wish for… Why would such a boy want to kill himself?

'Of course I want to listen. I'm your friend, Yamato-kun. And I would feel honored if you would like to share your troubles with me.'

'Well then… You asked for it.' Yamato sighed again, wrapping the blanked closer around himself. He looked right in front of himself, but it almost didn't seem as if he saw anything at all. Maybe he didn't.

'I don't know when it begun, really. The first skeleton in my closet would be mom, I guess. She can'' stand me. I don't know why, but she's always, or at least as long as I can remember, been neglecting me. I mean, my first memories of her is that she's holding baby Takeru close and yells at me for not taking care of him or something. Maybe it's because she was so young when she got me, she wasn't used to the idea to have a kid, and I kinda destroyed her life or something like that, but it still doesn't make it all right for her to destroy _my_ life, right? I don't know…'

'Anyway, she's always been favorizing Takeru, but I'm not bitter at him because of that. How could I be? He's the nicest person I know, period. At the time, when mom wouldn't speak to me or acknowledge my presence, I usually ran to dad. He would always tell me it would be all right, in a brutish kind of way. My dad's always like that. Short and aloof or something. Hard to talk too, you know?'

__

Yeah, you're a lot like that yourself, Jyou thought, but kept it to himself, he merely nodded.

'Anyway', Yamato continued, 'as they talked about coustidy at the time of the divorce, all their fights were about who was going to get to keep Takeru. Mom more or less ended up telling dad to stay the hell out of Takeru's life until he was old enough to handle being close to dad. Dad was closer to me to begin with, so he agreed, reculantly. And now, he and Takeru had drifted so far apart, they rarely see eachother, even if Takeru _is_ old enough now. Takeru feels bad about it, you know, he thinks dad doesn't care. And maybe he doesn't.'

'Anyway, dad took care of me, and mom and Takeru moved away. Dad was really great to begin with, you know. He even took time of from work to have time to hang out with me. But I guess it was good for him too, he needed his mind of the divorce. He kind of went into a slump, I think. And then…'

Yamato grew silent, sipping a bit on his tea. Jyou felt a knot in his stomach. Did he really want to hear what was coming now? Did he? No, he didn't. It was probably something really bad, and he almost wanted to speak up, to tell Yamato to keep his mouth shut. He didn't, though. He just braced himself as much as he could. 

'It was a year later when he begun. I was eight at the time… I think dad started to miss mom quite a bit, and he was always saying how much I looked like her and what a beautiful child I was. I thought that was really, really funny, I mean… Dad is not the type of man who would say something like that to anyone, let alone me. I usually kept the apartment nice and tidy, and I slowly learned how to cook, I got fed up on take-out food pretty soon. Because of this, dad could call me 'his little housewife' and stuff. It freaked me out, really. '

This story was beginning to freak Jyou out as well, and he could almost imagine what Yamato was trying to tell him, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. He could be wrong. He hoped he was wrong. He really hoped he was wrong.

'I guess you've figured out what I'm going to say… But it's more to it. Dad began to drink when I was eight as well. Not much to begin with, but a few beers every night turned into a few glasses of whiskey and stuff, every night. And in the end, he could drink bottles. Disgusting, really. And he grew violent, so when he was drunk, he used to smack me around a lot. He struck me with an empty bottle once, in the back. I still have scars. They wondered at the hospital, of course, but dad's pretty famous, and they bought his story after only a little while. '

'Dad began to molest me. It wasn't much, first. Just some touching where he really shouldn't touch, and he began to kiss me and hug me a lot, and I though it was just so strange, because dad isn't the affectionate type. He… He raped me the first time a few months before I would turn nine. I had messed up big time in school, started a fight with some airhead and then I beat him bloody before the teachers could stop it. They called dad, and I was afraid he'd kick the shit out of me, but when I got home, he merely sat in the kitchen and didn't say anything except that I should go to my room. And when he did come to talk to me… Well…'

Yamato grew quiet and looked down on his hands, his eyes dark with the pain the memories brought. Jyou didn't know what to say, he swallowed, moving a little bit closer to the younger boy. What did one say, really? What did one do? Yamato confided in him, wasn't it then his duty to do something to help his friend? Jyou bit his lip, his cup of tea forgotten on the table.

'How…' Jyou struggled with his words. 'How long did he… abuse you?'

Yamato blinked in surprised, something similar to relief flashing across his face.

'You believe me? Thank you so much, Jyou-san! Thank you!'

It was Jyou's turn to look startled.

'Why wouldn't I believe you? I hardly think someone like you would make such a story up, right?'

'No, I wouldn't…'

Yamato suddenly stood up and walked over to a window, looking out. Jyou barely heard him as he continued:

'He… he hasn't stopped. I thought he did, once. I mean, after our first encounter with the Digital World and stuff. He was really proud of both me and Takeru, and he… well, he still drank, I mean, he's too far gone in his addiction to quit, but he somehow managed _not_ to strike me. And he found this woman he started dating. She was an editor on the TV-station. So he didn't use me as some fuck toy for almost a year.'

Jyou cringed at Yamato's last words, but the blonde boy merely shrugged and kept speaking:

'Then she broke up with him, fed up with his drinking, I suppose. And this brought him to a huge depression. He drank for two weeks straight, I was afraid he was going to poison himself. Guess he did, in a way. In the days he'd be stand by in the bathroom, and in the nights he'd be sitting at the table, drinking. One night he fell asleep at the table, and I tried to carry him to his bed. When we got to the bed, I slipped. I mean, the man is heavy as hell! Anyway, I fell down on the bed, with him on top of me, and after a while he woke up. He had sobered up some, and he was… well… horny. And that was that.'

Yamato fell silent, and Jyou sat and stared at nothing. What should he say? What should he do?

Tell Yamato to go to the police? Easier said than done. 

'Have… Have you told anyone but me? Taichi-kun…?'

"No." Yamato sighed, his back seemed awfully rigid. "I mean… Taichi would freak out. First of all, he would try to kill dad, and that would be so stupid I won't even mention it. Second, he'd blow this stuff out of propotion and take it to court or something."

"But shouldn't you? Take it to court, I mean." Jyou rose as well and walked over to Yamato, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "This can't continue, don't you understand that? Your father needs to be locked away."

Yamato only turned and looked at him with dead eyes.

To Be Continued… 


	2. Sweet Little Child - 2

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad ****

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad. Really, really bad. I had this little plotbunnie that told me to torture poor Yamato as much as possible. And I did. This fic will contain talk about: incest/rape, child-abuse, and other dark subjects. Read at your own risk, please! 

Now, I do know that Yamato and Takeru's dad is a really nice guy, and that their mother is sweet as candy, but I needed 'villains'… And I'm not the first one bastardizing poor Ishida-san, and I probably won't be the last… ^^;;

Another thing worth mentioning is that there will be some shounen-ai hinting. In other words, hints of Jyoto (=^.^=), Taishiro and of course Daiken… :D ::giggle:: Enjoy!

Oh, and I don't have the faintest clue what the members in the Teenage Wolves are called. I made a few names up. Just humor me on this, please? ::puppydog-eyes::

Oh, and the older kids (Taichi, Yama, Koushiro, Jyou, Sora and Mimi) don't have their Digimon here, but the younger (Daisuke, Ken, Takeru, Hikari, Miyako and Iori) do, just as in Zero Two. ^^;;

A final thing: I'm not a native English speaker – waves tiny Swedish banner – so if my grammar suck, please bear with me…? 

****

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be struggling with my collage-bills. I would be in Japan, buying LOADS of anime and manga. So there! ^_^ I'm just borrowing the characters so that I can torture Yamato. I love that guy! ^^v

****

Sweet Little Child…

Chapter 2.

Kido Jyou stared at the closed door where Yamato had exited only minutes before, after he had spilled his darkest secrets for Jyou's horrified ears. And the secrets were dark indeed. Yamato had told Jyou that his mother neglected him and that his father abused him both physically and sexually. It all sounded almost too horrible to be true, but Jyou wasn't stupid, nor was he naive, he knew that sometimes, in the best of families… 

But could he? Could he do as Yamato asked, and keep quiet about this? Yamato's father belonged behind bars, every part of Jyou screamed that it was the only right thing to do, to get him locked up. But if Yamato felt so strongly about not telling…? 

"I hate this", he mumbled to himself. "Yamato doesn't really expect me to handle this alone, does he? I can't! Damn it!"

And with something between a sob and a scream, he threw the now empty tea cup into the wall.

* * * *

Yagami Taichi kicked of his shoes and sat down on the floor, carefully pulled his slippers on, and winced as his sore feet once more hit the floor. Soccer practice had been a real pain today, the rain had made the grass slippery and he had almost sprained his ancle when he tripped on another boy. It didn't matter, though, it had been fun. No matter the weather, no matter the circumstances, nothing could take the joy of soccer away from him. 

"Mom", he called out. "I'm home! What's for dinner?"

He heard her answer from the kitchen:

"Italian. Pasta bolognese. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not. It's food, right?" He grinned, limping towards his room when his mother stopped him.

"Taichi, wait a second."

"Uhm?"

"A friend of yours, Kido-kun, called just a few minutes ago. He really wanted to talk to you, and I told him you should call back."

Taichi was already on his way to the telephone. He couldn't help but wonder if something was amiss in the Digital World, why else would Jyou call him, and say that it was urgent? Taichi swallowed, hoping that there was nothing wrong with Agumon. He prayed that there was nothing wrong with Agumon.

"Agumon", he whispered, picking up the phone and dailing the numbers.

**** 

The backpack was heavy, filled with books and his laptop. Izumi Koushiro sighed, putting the backpack down a few seconds while streaching his back. He rubbed the small of his back, sighing. He was on his way to Jyou to show him the latest program he had worked out, something that could, if it worked, revolutionize the way the Chosen Children communicated with their Digimon Partners. Or at least he hoped it would. 

I hope Jyou-san will be pleased. Maybe I should have called him before hand, what if he's busy… Well, can't change my mind now, can I? I'm almost there…

**** 

Taichi's voice sounded strangely subdued as he answered, and Jyou frowned, hoping that there wasn't anything else that was amiss with his friends.

"Taichi-kun, are you busy? Is something wrong?"

"Why don't you tell me? Mom said it was urgent, so what's up? Is Agumon all right? Have you heard something from Gomamon?"

A sharp little needle came from no-where and pierced Jyou's heart without mercy. Gomamon… He hadn't seen his little happy-go-lucky friend ever since thier last trip to the Digital World, all those weeks, no, months ago, and he couldn't help but miss it terribly. What if something would happen to Gomamon without Jyou being there to help and comfort it? Like that time when the Digimon Kaizer almost had Gomamon beaten to death… Jyou knew all his friends missed their Digimon partners, his situation was in no way unique, but it hurt none the less. It would continue to hurt until he met Gomamon again, if that would ever happen.

"Huh? Uhm, no… I haven't heard anything, sorry… I was just wondering…"

**** 

Koushiro rang the bell and waited. And waited. Frowning, he looked at his watch. _Jyou should be home from school by now… Unless he has something else occupying him, that is…_ Something, perhaps his famous curiosity that always seemed to get him into trouble, made Koushiro to touch the handle on the door. He pressed a little bit harder, and the handle gave away underneath his hand. A small, clicking sound was heard, then the door slid open without any noice what so ever. Koushiro gulped. He really should close the door again and get along home, if Jyou wasn't there. But then he thought he heard something that sounded a lot like Jyou, and he peeked in, feeling awfully guilty about the entire thing. 

Jyou stood with his back turned against the door, and he held a phone in his hand. Koushiro smiled, then quietly snook inside. The youth would notice him when he was done with talking to the person at the other end of the line. Koushiro blushed. It wasn't very nice to listen in on someone elses private calls, but since he was here, it would be an even greater shame, Koushiro figured, not to listen. Leaning against the wall closest to the door, the short, redhaired boy heard Jyou say:

"…anything, sorry… I was just wondering…"

**** 

"I didn't know it was that bad", Daisuke said quietly as he walked next to Takeru. Daisuke was on his way home from soccer practice and Takeru had had basket training that ended at the same time as his practice, and since they lived in the same house, they decided to walk home together. Now Takeru stopped in his tracks, looking coldly at his plum-haired friend.

"No? But it is." The blonde sighed. "Listen, Daisuke-kun… I know what you overheard. I can understand if you're concerned. But get this straight: It's my family. It's private. I don't want you butting your nose into stuff you don't have a single clue about. I don't want you go yapping to the gang about how terrible mom is. I don't want you to bother at all, okay? So… Just don't mention it any more, okay. It's no big deal anyway."

Hurt burned in Daisuke's chest, and he took a huge sip from the water bottle he was carrying with him, as to cool his injured feelings down. He tried to force a grin, but it just wouldn't show, and he muttered:

"You think I can't keep secrets, Takeru? You think I'm completely heartless, is that it?"

"I never said you were heartless, you idiot! I know that you care. You care too much sometimes. I know you'd go telling everybody about it and then try to come up with some brave, oh-so-mighty plan to save the souls of Niichan and I. But it doesn't work that way."

That said, Takeru began to walk again, his long legs taking him far from Daisuke in just a few moments. Daisuke watched him go, his hands balling into tiny fists.

"Oh damn", he muttered. "Why does that guy always act like he's got a broomstick shoved up is butt?!"

"Who would want to broom a guy's butt", a tiny, childish voice asked from Daisuke's backpack, and the boy put the bag down, unzipping it. Chibimon's round, blue and white face peeked up, blinking at the sudden light.

"Oh, be quiet you, you don't understand", Daisuke chided his little friend, pecking at a place right in between the big, red eyes that looked innocently at him.

"I guess I don't", the little creature mused. "But I do understand this, Daisuke… My tummy makes all these crazy noices, I think it wants me to tell you that it's very, very hungry and it really, really wants some chocolate!"

Daisuke blinked, and a smile found it's way to his face, a real, amused smile.

"You let your stomach think for you, huh? Why am I not surprised… Let's go!"

**** 

Pulling his clothes of, Takeru turned on the shower and then stood quietly and watched himself in the mirror, waiting for the water to heat up. A lean, muscled body with too long legs and arms to look really good, at least that was his oppinion. Hopefully the rest of his body would catch up, so that he wouldn't walk around looking like a freak for the rest of his life. One thing that scared him was that it wouldn't take long before he had outgrown Yamato, at least in height.

"Don't you ever stop, you…?" In three years he had grown from the little midget that had looked so miserably pathetic, to this… freak. Just great. "What the heck does Hikari see in me, anyway?"

"Maybe your good heart?" Takeru turned at the voice, smiling mildly at the little white and golden creature that sat on the toiletseat.

"Hello, Patamon. Did you miss me?"

"Not really. Your mother and I had a really interesting conversation. She told me about pigs and bats, and that was really fun!" The little winged Digimon giggled, then flew over and seated itself on top of its partner's head. "Takeru, what's wrong? You look so unhappy…" Patamon's voice was filled with concern, but the blonde boy shook his head, shrugging. 

"I don't know how to explain to you. I hardly even know how to explain it to myself. I'll tell you later, if I can. All right? Now… I have to shower. You want to do it too, or will you wait here?"

"I'll come with you, Takeru", Patamon said, gripping around Takeru's hair. "You need me. Besides, I need to get clean anyway."

"Got'cha."

**** 

Yamato sighed, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands. It had been one really tiresome day. He was still amazed that Jyou had believed him, he knew himself how unbelievable it sounded. What if… What if his father somehow found out that he had told someone? Well, he could always worry about that later, he had more problems to deal with first. He still hadn't confronted his father concerning the fact that he had quit the band. And here he was, standing outside their front door. He tried to open. Locked. 

"So, dad's not home", the fourteen-year old mumbled, slightly relieved. He picked up his key from his bag and slid the thin piece of metal into the lock. Turned. And the familiar unlocking sound reached his ears. 

Yamato opened the door and stared into their dark apartment. Hunger gnawed him, and, after lighting several lamps in all over the place, he stepped out into the kitchen, opening the fridge, taking out some tomatoes, a slice of salmon, mushrooms and a lemon. He could always prepare dinner, maybe cook the fish in the oven, together with vegstables, and spicing the entire dish up with salt, lemon, sugar, pepper and maybe a touch of vineagar. Yeah. That he'd do. 

Yamato opened the cupboard where they kept their knifes, then stared at the sharp, gleaming object inside. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster, his hands began to shake ever so slightly. The knife was very, very sharp.

**** 

"Taichi-kun", Jyou began hesitantly. "I want to talk to you about Yamato." He heard Taichi's surprised reply in the phone, why would Jyou want to talk to _him_ about Yamato? The bluehaired youth sighed, thinking carefully before voicing what was on his mind.

"Well, you see… you know that he quit the band right?… Yeah, a real shame. Yes, I think he might have some problems he needs to work out. Actually that is what I wanted to talk to you about. Has he ever… Ever said something to you? … Besides his usual talk when he's really down, yes. Has he ever mentioned his family situation? Anything about Takeru? About his parents? … Really, he hasn't? Okay… I don't think he likes to live alone with his father. Yes, he's quite the brute, isn't he? … Yes, soon, in a few years, he'll be old enough to move out. What, me? I don't know, I have to make sure I make it into high school first. I haven't gotten the entrance exam's results yet, it's driving me nuts! Back to Yamato… No, forget it. I have to go… Bye!"

**** 

Taichi stared at the phone he held in his hand. This felt… Weird. Unsettling, to say the least. Something was going on. He just knew that something was going on. Unfortunally, he hadn't the slightest clue as to what might be amiss, with either Yamato, or Jyou. As Hikari, who had just gotten home from school and a photosession downtown, asked who he had spoken to, Taichi automatically answered that it wasn't someone important. She believed him and vanished into her room. Taichi watched blankly into space, his chest thightening up in something almost resembling fear.

**** 

Koushiro frowned. The entire conversation between Jyou and Taichi had been unpleasant, and the look on Jyou's face sent shivers down his spine. Jyou had noticed him and walked over, saying hello and inviting Koushiro to stay for a cup of tea. Koushiro didn't answer, he merely looked at Jyou, and asked:

"It must be either one or the other, am I right? Either Yamato's dad is neglecting him, or he's abusing him in some way. Am I right?"

Jyou froze, black eyes meeting black eyes, two hearts slowing down almost at the exact same time. Then, after the enternity and more had passed, Jyou nodded.

**** 

The girl stopped outside the door, re-arranging her clothes. In one hand, she held a blue orchid, a flower that would suit Yamato perfectly. She had been in love with him once, and still she liked him a lot, and she felt she had to appologize to him for a lot of things. On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt if he appologized to _her_ as well. She rang the doorbell and heard him answer. She smiled, opened the door and stepped inside.

Yamato was standing with a huge knife in his hand, and from the blade of the knife, a thick, red fluid slowly poured down on the hand holding the knife.

Motomiya Jun put her thin hands to her mouth, trying to choke a scream that filled her entire being with a pain she had never felt before.

"YAMATO!!!"

To Be Continued…


	3. Sweet Little Child - 3

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad ****

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad. Really, really bad. I had this little plotbunnie that told me to torture poor Yamato as much as possible. And I did. This fic will contain talk about incest/rape, child-abuse, and other dark subjects. Read at your own risk, please! 

A thing worth mentioning is that there will be some shounen-ai hinting. In other words, hints of Jyoto (=^.^=), Taishiro and of course Daiken… :D ::giggle:: Enjoy!

Oh, and the older kids (Taichi, Yama, Koushiro, Jyou, Sora and Mimi) don't have their Digimon here, but the younger (Daisuke, Ken, Takeru, Hikari, Miyako and Iori) do, just as in Zero Two. ^^;;

A final thing: I'm not a native English speaker – waves tiny Swedish banner – so if my grammar suck, please bear with me…? 

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be struggling with my collage-bills. I would be in Japan, buying LOADS of anime and manga. So there! ^_^ I'm just borrowing the characters so that I can torture Yamato. I love that guy! ^^v

****

Sweet Little Child…

****

Chapter 3.

As Jun pulled out a chair and seated herself, she wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow with one hand. Her eyes were glued onto Yamato, as the slender boy finished setting the table. The delicious smell of freshly made fish and spices filled the kitchen and Jun's mouth watered slightly.

"You really know how to scare someone out of their wits", she commented, helping herself at the food. "I seriously thought you…"

"You though I had cut myself?", Yamato asked, bewildered. "Why would I have done something like that?"

"I don't know. Why would you?"

Truth to be told, what Jun in a moment of panic had thought of as Yamato's blood, was in reality a mixture of fishblood and tomato-juice. As she had recovered from the initial shock, Yamato had invited her for dinner. The orchid she had bought for him stood on the table in a beautiful little vase.

Jun couldn't help but wonder about Yamato. When she first had seen him she had fallen head over heels for him, his crisp beauty being the sun in her life. Now she realized it had only been a stupid crush, and she was mighty mad about herself for crushing on someone like that, especially someone a few years younger than she. But that was just the way she was, she couldn't help herself. 'Something wrong with her head', her father would say, whenever he paid attention. 'She should go see a shrink', her mother usually added. But then they lost interest, and the whole thing usually blew over. In a way, it was nice to have parents that didn't care. Then she could mind her own business, live her own life. At least that was what she told herself to keep from falling into depression. Now, about Yamato…

He was thin. He hadn't been just as thin when she started crushing over him. Not at all. He had dark rings underneath his eyes, his hair wasn't as shiny as it used to be, the black shirt hung loosely around his bony shoulders.

He hadn't answered her question, and he began to shift uncomfortably underneath her gaze. He glared back at her, a faint blush brushing over the bridge of his nose.

"What? I have food in my face or something?"

She shook her head. He looked away, taking another bite of salmon. Then he muttered:

"I don't cut myself. I'm not like that, I don't have any reason to be like that."

"You don't have to have some big reason for it", Jun mumbled. "If you feel down, it's one way to relieve yourself from some stress."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about…?"

Now it was her turn to blush.

"Well… Not in reality, I don't. It's just… I have toyed with the idea from time to time…"

He snorted.

"You? I find that kind of hard to believe."

"I know."

And she turned her attention back to her plate.

**** 

WARNING! The Page You are About to Enter Contains 

ADULT Material! No one Under Legal Age May 

Enter!

Koushiro frowned, then clicked the link. The page opened up, along with six pop-up windows that the boy impatiently closed. Thanks to his hacking-skills he had, after hours of work, managed to get access to a pornographic site with a hidden chat-room where pedophiles could share their experiences and thoughts with each other. A few of the pictures on the site made the thirteen-year-old slightly sick to his stomach, and he had a feeling he was playing with fire, but he had to know more about this. He had to know more about how the minds of pedophiles worked, had to know what made child abusers tick. He was worried – no, feared – for Yamato. He felt that if his friend in some way was being mistreated like this, he might not last so long among them. Yamato, all though not weak, had a tendency to let his emotions rule over him. And if those emotions told him to kill himself…? He needed help. 

Koushiro opened up the chat, calling himself 'babytoy', thinking it would draw people's attention to him. And he was right, only one minute after he had logged on, several men were already talking to him, asking questions that made his stomach churn and his cheeks pale visibly. 

One man in particular seemed interested in him, especially since he had slipped – completely by accident – that he lived in Tokyo. The man wanted a private chat with him, and before Koushiro knew it, the man had figured out that he wasn't just some adult playing a child, that he indeed was a child, dealing with something he really should stay clear from. The man, calling himself 'Unknown', kept asking questions that became dirtier by the second. And the last line from 'Unknown' made Koushiro's blood run cold as ice:

**__**

'Unknown: I will find you, you know. I have methods to track you down, kiddo; I'm not lying. And then, I will drag you into my car, drive off with you to a secluded place, and tear your fucking boy-pussy apart with my big man-meat, doesn't that sound like fun?'

Koushiro closed the chat, then shut down the Internet and turned off the computer. He sat still, staring at the now black screen, fear closing around his heart, making it difficult for him to breathe. 

What had he gotten himself into…?

**** 

'Unknown' logged off as soon as he noticed that the boy had signed off. He pushed a few keys on the keyboard, clicked a few times with his mouse, and a little dialogue box appeared, that said 'Izumi Koushiro, 1990,' and then his phone number and home address followed. A smile found it's way to the man's face.

"Well then… Koushiro-kun… I will teach you not to butt into stuff you don't understand." And, after printing out needed information, Ishida Masaharu turned off his computer.

**** 

The night came. Jyou lay in darkness, his face wet with tears. He didn't cry easily. He really didn't. But this day had brought so many dark issues, issues he didn't have the slightest clue of how to deal with, he had never felt so helpless in his entire life, and guilt ate at him. Why hadn't he noticed something sooner? He had known Yamato several years now, why hadn't he paid more attention to the boy? 

With dark thoughts still roaming his mind, the fifteen-year-old slowly drifted off to sleep.

__

Somehow he knew it was a dream. But such sweet a dream, he really didn't mind the knowledge. It was wonderful anyway. He lay on a beach, a Hawaiian beach, and the sun was slowly setting. The air wasn't too hot, and a clear breeze blew in from the sea. At his side, another boy was sleeping. A slim, blonde young god. Maybe it was a god from the Greek mythology? He was stunningly beautiful… The god turned his head and Jyou suddenly recognized him. It wasn't a god, but close enough.

'Yamato…'

'Kiss me, Jyou', the beautiful creature whispered. 'Make me yours.'

Jyou turned over to his side, pulling Yamato close to him. He lowered his lips, and soon they connected with the younger boy's. Yamato was willing and he parted his lips eagerly, allowing Jyou's tongue to enter his hot, moist cave. Their tongues clashed with each other in an ancient dance, hands roamed everywhere. Their briefs slid down slim hips and their throbbing sexes touched each other, steamy as the night itself. As a bird flew across the sky, Jyou turned Yamato over on his stomach, then he placed himself on top of the younger boy, placing soft kisses on the boy's shoulders and hair. He rubbed Yamato's behind with his hands, kneeding the flesh and brushed his fingers teasingly over the sensitive skin between the ball-sack and the anus. After a foreplay that lasted a blissful eternity, Jyou positioned himself at Yamato's entrance, then pushed…

A scream came from somewhere, waking him up. Sweaty and out of breath, Jyou sat up in his bed, throwing the blanket off him. A strange scent lingered in the room and he looked down on himself. He had… He blushed as he realized he had had an ejaculation in his sleep, and blushed even more when he realized that his mother would probably notice when she washed the sheets. 

With shaky legs he made it to the bathroom and quickly washed himself off, hoping he wouldn't wake anyone up. Once clean, he slipped back into his room, pulled the sheets from his bed and lay down on top of it. In spite of himself, it didn't take long before he fell back to sleep.

**** 

The midday sun was almost completely hidden behind huge clouds that told of coming rains. The coffee-shop was crowded as Koushiro sat down on the chair in front of Yamato. He had called the older boy, asking to have a word with him. After a bit of hesitation, Yamato had agreed, and they had decided they would talk it out over a cup of coffee. And here they were.

"How was school today", Koushiro asked.

"Okay. I had a little run-in with Shinobu, but it wasn't all that bad. And how was your day?"

"Great… Say, Yamato-kun…"

"Yeah?"

Koushiro paused, stirring his coffee a little with his spoon, his eyes locked on the oily liquid. 

"Have you… I mean… Is… Is everything all right?"

Yamato raised an eyebrow.

"No. I just quit my band and the guys hate my guts. Why should it be okay?"

Koushiro looked up, his face slightly red. 

"That's not exactly what I mean. I meant… Uh… Is everything all right at home? I mean, with your father… He isn't… He isn't mean to you, is he? I mean… I…"

Yamato had turned quite pale and his eyes had grown cold as ice. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes digging into Koushiro's very mind, or so it seemed. 

"What the fuck are you implying?"

Koushiro jumped, his face flushing even more. 

"It's just… I… I heard Jyou-san talk to Taichi-kun, and what he said seemed quite suspicious, and I just wanted to know for sure…"

"Jyou has spoken to Taichi?" Yamato got to his feet, his fists clenched.

"Well, not all that much, only… Uh… He asked questions. A few, almost innocent questions, they really didn't…"

"Shut the hell up!"

Yamato's fist was dangerously close to Koushiro's face and the young boy swallowed nervously. Other guests in the coffee-shop looked curiously at them, and a waitress looked somewhat angry. Yamato seemed to noticed, and calmed down. He grabbed his jacket and schoolbag, then stormed out from the shop. Koushiro watched him leave, then buried his face in his hands, his body shivering with dry sobs. After a minute or more, he managed to pull himself together, so he paid the tab and left. 

****

Ishida Masaharu, who had hid behind a big newspaper, had heard the entire conversation between his son and this little Koushiro-boy. One of the Chosen Children. Of course, who else? Masaharu shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. Well then… That little redhead was really too nosy for his own good, someone had to teach him a lesson.

**** 

The doorbell rang. Jyou looked up from his mountain of homework and sighed. Who disturbed him at this time of hour? Wasn't that awfully rude? He had work to do, a lot of work. He slowly walked over to the door and opened. 

"Yes…?"

He caught a quick glimpse of Yamato's furious face, before the other boy's fist connected with his jaw and Jyou found himself crashing hard into the doorframe.

To Be Continued…


	4. Sweet Little Child - 4

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad ****

Author notes: Okies… This one is bad. Really, really bad. I had this little plotbunnie that told me to torture poor Yamato as much as possible. And I did. This fic will contain incest/rape, child-abuse, and other dark subjects. Read at your own risk, please! 

Another thing worth mentioning is that there will be some shounen-ai hinting.

Oh, and the older kids (Taichi, Yama, Koushiro, Jyou, Sora and Mimi) don't have their Digimon here, but the younger (Daisuke, Ken, Takeru, Hikari, Miyako and Iori) do, just as in Zero Two. ^^;;

A final thing: I'm not a native English speaker – waves tiny Swedish banner – so if my grammar suck, please bear with me…? 

Big fat **RAPE-warning** on this chapter!! It's at the end, don't read if it's not your cup of tea! ;_;

****

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be struggling with my collage-bills. I would be in Japan, buying LOADS of anime and manga. So there! ^_^ I'm just borrowing the characters so that I can torture Yamato. I love that guy! ^^v

****

Sweet Little Child…

Chapter 4

Ishida Masaharu rubbed his throbbing temples, staring hopelessly at the screen before him. At this rate, there was no way he'd manage to finish everything before the deadline. His thoughts had been to busy with everything else besides his work, and it took it's toll now. He could almost feel the editors tear his heart out and feeding it to the cameramen. Not a pleasant feeling.

The entire mess with Yamato was slowly but steady getting out of hand. If only the boy could behave normally and don't be such a cock-tease… Him prancing around, shaking his tight behind whenever he got the chance, ruined Masaharu's chances to have a normal, healthy relationship with his son. And besides… The boy's friends began to nose around far too much; that Koushiro boy was living proof of that. If Masaharu got caught… Of course they would twist and turn it, bend the truth so that it would be _his_ fault. He'd spend a long time in jail. His future would be ruined. And he really, really didn't like the way other inmates treated the ones convicted of any kind of child abuse and molestation. 

If only he could find some way to make sure Koushiro kept his mouth shut…

* * * * 

The beautiful meadow in the Digital World was the perfect place for a picknick. A lot of the Chosen Children had come together, those who weren't present were Yamato, Mimi, Michael and Wallace. The three later hadn't been informed of the meeting so they weren't missed. Or… They were missed, but no one wondered about their where abouts. Yamato on the other hand knew about it, and he hadn't shown.

Sora couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that she perhaps, had something to do with it. She hoped she didn't, but one never knew. Maybe he thought her to be too pushy, that he didn't want to see her. But she wasn't in love with him any more. Not with him, nor with Taichi. But since she hadn't shown either one of the boys that her feelings had died out, maybe they still thougth she was… Shaking her head and frowning at herself, the athletic redhead walked over to a beautiful palmtree and leaned against it's trunk. 

Miyako and Hikari slowly approached her, worried looks on their faces.

"Sora-san", Miyako said as they reached her. "What's the matter? We're having a party here, but you really don't look like you're enjoying yourself. Do… do you have stomach cramps?"

Sora immediately realized what the younger girl meant, and she blushed furiously.

"No, I don't! It's just… Look around! Does it look to you as if we're enjoying ourselves here? Jyou is walking around with a bruise bigger than Hokkaido on his cheek, but he won't tell us where he got it, Koushiro looks like he's afraid of his own shadow, but he won't tell us why, and Yamato isn't here at all."

"True", Hikari mumbled. "And not even Takeru knows why he didn't come. It's pretty strange…"

Miyako twined a link of her beautiful, purple hair between her fingers, tilting her head to the side.

"Boys are strange. Maybe… Maybe Taichi and Yamato were in a fight, and they don't want to see eachother because of that?"

Hikari shook her head, red eyes thoughtful.

"I don't think so. Niichan would have told me. And he seems fairly happy anyway. He usually mopes around quite a bit if he and Yamato are at eachother's troaths."

Sora's eyes slowly made their way from Taichi over to the short redhaired boy with black eyes that sat next to Tentomon, talking to the insect-digimon in a low voice.

"Can someone tell me what's wrong with him, then? Very little bothers Koushiro, you know… And now he seem very, very edgy. Something's extremely wrong here, but I don't have a clue what it could be…"

The two younger girls first looked at Sora, then over at Koushiro, at eachother, then back to Sora again, both shaking their heads, simultaniously. Sora blinked, then remembered that they were connected by their Jogress-bond. Creapy thing, that. What if she herself was connected to Mimi that way? Wouldn't that feel like someone really was inviding your private space? But if it was Mimi, maybe it was all right… At the thought, she blushed, blinking to clear her thoughts. How did she always manage to drift away like this?

"Oh…" she answered Hikari and Miyako. "Too bad…"

* * * * 

Koushiro watched as Jyou and Iori haunched over a big, colorful flower, making observations and taking notes. Jyou's bruise bothered the younger boy, he figured Yamato had beaten Jyou because of his big mouth. Then it was his fault that Jyou hurt, and his fault that Yamato probably hurt right now, wherever he was. 

Koushiro had tried to talk with Jyou about it, had tried to bring the bluehaired youth to a seculed place so that they could have a much needed discussion, but Jyou didn't seem too eager about it, so the opportunity had never appeared.

"You're awfully quiet today", Taichi observed as he sat down next to his redhaired friend. "What's wrong?"

Koushiro bit his lip, looking down on his hands. Tentomon snapped to attention, nodding to himself, then quietly flew off to talk to Armadimon, leaving the two boys alone.

"I don't know, Taichi… I think I might be getting into something way over my head, and I'm scared. But I can't back out, not now, so I don't really know what to do…"

Taichi blinked and Koushiro could hear him draw his breath.

"You serious?"

"Deadly."

"But… But what the hell are you messing with then, Koushiro? Man, I don't get this… First Jyou's acting mighty strange and now you too… What's going on? Koushiro, tell me!"

Koushiro tore his eyes away from his hands, glancing over at Taichi's trusted face. More than anything, the shorter boy wanted nothing except lean his head agaist Taichi's shoulder for support and energy, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't, he mustn't burden Taichi with this, not yet. Taichi and Yamato were so close… What if Taichi would feel betrayed by Yamato because the golden boy hadn't confided in him? Then Koushiro would have messed up yet another friendship, just as he had done with Jyou and Yamato.

"I can't tell you…"

"Oh." Taichi looked hurt and angry, but then his features softened up and he almost grinned. "Say… Mom makes wonderful pancakes. We're having it tonight. You wanna spend the night? We could stay up late and watch horror movies!"

Koushiro shook his head at the sheepish look on Taichi's face, then nodded, grinning himself.

"I'd love too! But no horror movies, you hear?"

"Great!"

"Great. And I'll come over to your place at… say… 8.00 PM?"

"8,00 PM it is. Cool!"

* * * *

The monotone thumping of the subway didn't do much to brighten his mind. Yamato sighed, rubbing his temples in a way quite similar to his father. He hadn't spoken to either Jyou nor Koushiro the entire day. Still, he wasn't mad. Not really anyway. He felt betrayed, that Jyou would say anything that confidential to someone, but still… Maybe it was too much to ask from Jyou that he should keep quiet… Silence was golden, yes, but sometimes that gold was hard earned.

The blonde teenager hummed quietly to himself, the tune TM Revolution's "Heart of Sword". He didn't do in because he was in the mood for a song, it was more that he needed some music around him. He missed the band, his harmonica lay in a cupboard at home, and he didn't have a walkman with him right now. He would be home soon anyway, just a few blocks away from the subway-station.

A part of him realy wanted to make up with Jyou, he realized as he walked the short distance from the station to his apartment. He felt bad for hitting the older boy, felt bad for shouting at him. He hated to see Jyou's face twisted into a mask of desperate sadness, caused by himself. 

A part of Yamato wanted to make Jyou feel really good about himself.

* * * *

Yamato opened the door to the apartment, frowning. It was dark. Was his dad working late again? Looked like it. Oh well… With any luck that would mean that the man would be deadly tired when he came home, and that would mean that he wouldn't visit his son's bed this night. 

Yamato sighed, sat down at the table and poured himself some milk and cornflakes. He began to eat.

* * * *

Masaharu gritted his teeth, walking along the dark alleyway. This was a shortcut to his home, he was late, and Yamato was probably home, waiting with the dinner. The probably very _cold_ dinner. Suddenly the man jumped, his eyes widening.

* * * *

Koushiro glared at the watch. How dared it already show 7.56 PM? He would be late. Then Taichi might think he didn't want to come. And that wasn't the truth at all. The reason he was late was that he had installed a new software on his computer, and it had taken longer than Koushiro had estimated. 

Noticing a dark, unfriendly alley, the young boy stopped, thinking. It was unsafe to walk along dark roads as that one all by himself. On the other hand, it wasn't a long walk, and Taichi's apartment lay just half a mile ahead from here. Taking a deep breath, the boy came to a decision, and entered the alley.

After perhaps twelve seconds, it happened.

A hand came from nowhere, slapping down on his mouth. Another hand came and wrapped itself around his vaist, the fingers painfully groping for his crotch. Koushiro's eyes widened in terror as he felt a big, bulky body being pressed to his back. He could hear the man's labored breathing, could smell his musky scent of sweat, aftershave and arousal, could feel how the man's sex pressed against the small of his back through layers of fabric.

"I told you I'd find you, brat", the man hissed behind him, the voice thick with lust. "Now I'm going to give you what you were asking for…"

Koushiro tried his best to fight back, but the man had obviously expected it, and he gripped the boy around his troath with one hand, the other hand delivering two hard blows to the child's stomach. Koushiro gasped in pain and his sight became blurry from lack of oxygen and pain. Unable to fight back, he couldn't prevent the man from throwing him onto the ground and ripping his clothes off. But as the man stood up to remove his own clothing, Koushiro saw his opportunity and tried to crawl away. 

The rapist cursed under his breath and quickly followed the boy, grabbing him by one arm and throwing him into the wall of a rundown building. Koushiro could feel something snap inside of him, a rib perhaps, and the disgusting taste of blood filled his mouth, forcing him to cough. And then the man was on top of him, groping, pinching, biting, kissing… hurting. As the man finally managed to get beyond the boy's physical defences and his sex slid into the child, he whispered in Koushiro's ear:

"And now you stay the fuck out of Yamato's private buisness, do you understand?"

And then Koushiro knew who the rapist was.

* * * *

Ishida Masaharu wiped himself off the best he could, buttoned his shirt and brushed a hand through his hair. He looked around carefully, and then, making sure no one saw him, he walked away from the alley, towards his home.

And in the alley, Izumi Koushiro lay, bleeding, battered and broken, his glazed over eyes staring numbly at nothing at all, blood pooling underneath him. 

To Be Continued…


	5. Sweet Little Child - 5

Author notes: I was just gonna do a Yamato-angst-ficcie, but it grew on me. X_x Wee. @.@  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be struggling with my collage- bills. I would be in Japan, buying LOADS of anime and manga. So there! ^_^ I'm just borrowing the characters so that I can torture Yamato. I love that guy! ^^v  
  
Sweet Little Child.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
There was something about hospitals, Taichi thought, something about them that made your stomach churn and your heart beat all too fast. The red sign that screamed 'Surgery' to anyone who bothered reading it, stuck him like a sore thumb in the eye. He paced back and forth over the floor, hands behind his back, fingers braided together in a hard knot.  
  
Doki. Doki. Doki. The sound of his heart. He felt anxious like never before. Doki. Doki. Doki.  
  
He had thought it very strange that Koushiro hadn't shown at their appointed time, so he put on a jacket and went outside. It didn't take him too long before he found the younger boy. Abused, raped. but alive. The following hours were a blur for Taichi, but he did remember that he somehow managed to get enough hold of himself so that he could call for an ambulance. He remembered vaugely that he had been bawling his eyes out as he talked to the woman at the other end of the line, she had to ask him repeatedly before he could deliver the information she needed.  
  
And now they were here. And one single word echoed in his mind, giving him no rest. Who? Who? Who? Who? Who could have done this? To Koushiro. Who could have raped him? Only a young boy. Who?  
  
Taichi wanted to scream, wanted to hit something, someone, everything. He did nothing, merely sighed, walked over to a chair, and flopped down, burying his face in his hands.  
  
****  
  
Days like these, you just wanted to stay in bed and never get up, Jyou figured, staring with red eyes at the clock on the wall. The teacher's monotone preaching for once blew completely past him, his mind was occupied with more important things.  
  
Like Koushiro. Like Yamato's dad. Like Yamato.  
  
It felt like he was sinking through the floor, knowing so, but unable to keep himself from sinking further down. Why was all this happening? Why had his feelings for the blonde rebel grown so much these past weeks? Why had that rash, but friendly, Ishida-san turned out to be a monster who did unspeakable things to his son? And why. Why had someone, some unknown creep, destroyed a boy so kind, shy and ambitious as Koushiro? What if he never recovered? What if he. What if he died? Taichi said he had gotten pnemonia due to the time he had to spend, weakened, outside in the cold.  
  
The bell finally rang, and Jyou got to his feet, his legs shaking. He spotted from the corner of his eye that the teacher looked worried, that he wanted to talk to him. He was in no mood for some chit-chat, and he pretended not to notice.  
  
I need to get out. I need to talk to Yamato. This has to stop, somehow.  
  
****  
  
The message in front of her cut her straight in the heart, in her soul. Koushiro had been. And now he was in surgery?  
  
Her hands shaking, Mimi swallowed hard, writing back to Sora. She was kidding, right? She had to be kidding. A really bad joke at that. But no. It didn't look like it. It was true, it was all true. No. No. No! I have to get to Japan. Can't stay here, it's impossible! The gang needs me. "DAD!!"  
  
****  
  
Sora sighed, rubbing her weary eyes with her hands. She pushed her chair back from the desk as soon as she shut down her connection to Mimi and America. Her mother was in the kitchen, making dinner for the two of them. Her father was coming home for a quick visit over the weekend, but she couldn't feel completely happy about it. Too much was happening, to many bad things were happening. "What is happening to us all", she whispered to no-one in particular.  
  
****  
  
There were some really bad things with being small, Iori pondered as he tried his best to look over the counter, and at the same time, trying not to look rediculous. Picking up his plate with food - he hated fastfood, but he was hungry, and it was never good to ignore the important things in life, as a sharp mind for example, and with an empty stomach, your mind couldn't work the way it should - he slowly walked over to the table where Miyako sat, stirring violently in her coke.  
  
"This is just horrible", she whimpered as he sat down. "Koushiro-san! I mean, come on. What can we do? Do you know what we can do? I'm at a total loss here, Iori-kun, help me out! It's so frustrating."  
  
Iori sighed, waiting for the older girl to slow down so that he could make his voice heard.  
  
"Right now, I don't think there's much we can do. We just have to wait and see how things turn out. What Koushiro-san will say when he wake up. The police will ask him who did it, of course. It's up to them, not to us. We shouldn't get involved in this, this is a very serious matter."  
  
"Oh."  
  
****  
  
The two boys sat on Daisuke's bed, Ken had Daisuke's head in his lap. They had spent a few hours talking about this and that and nothing at all, both of them pretty dazed and confused.  
  
"I wish." Daisuke mumbled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I wish we all could get together. All our friends, and the Digimon, and then we'd take a long vacation somewhere, away from here. Away from all the troubles."  
  
"That", Ken whispered, "doesn't quite sound like you, Daisuke. Running from your problems. Isn't that what you've always told me not to do?"  
  
"I know. It's just. A lot of things are going on right now, everywhere. Everyone seems to be having problems. We could need a break, don't you think?"  
  
"Maybe. But still. Daisuke."  
  
"Yeah, I know, I know." He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Forget it. I was just rambling anyway."  
  
Ken looked at him, his eyes concerned. Something was up with Daisuke, something other than the recent events, but he couldn't figure out what. It bothered him. No, it made him worry, and he didn't know how to approach Daisuke, what to say to make him open up. And that, almost drove him off the wall.  
  
"I won't forget it", he snapped, making Daisuke jump and blink in confusion.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Something's bothering you. And you won't tell me what it is. Of course I won't forget it!"  
  
"Well, of course something's bothering me", Daisuke snapped back. "Koushiro- san has just been raped if you haven't noticed. You don't think that would make me just a tad weird or something?"  
  
Why are we getting into a fight, Ken thought, unhappy. There's no need. But still, he grabbed his sweater and headed towards the door.  
  
"Whatever. Listen, Daisuke. I have to go. See you later.?"  
  
Taken aback, Daisuke slumped down on his bed, nodding.  
  
"Sure. You just go. I'll see you later, yeah. Bye."  
  
As Ken left the appartment, he couldn't help but shiver from the strange look Yun gave him before he closed the front door.  
  
****  
  
"Was it from the hospital?" Takeru put away the final plate, done with the dishes. Hikari shook her head, leaning against the doorframe, sighing.  
  
"No. Wrong number." She frowned. "If only Niichan would call. Not knowing what's happening is driving me insane."  
  
Takeru nodded, drying his hands off on a towel. He wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow, looking around in the Yagami appartment. It was all clean now, he and Hikari had been working the entire evening, tidying the place up. Taichi's and Hikari's parents were over at the hospital, trying to provide some comfort to Koushiro's parents.  
  
Takeru flopped down on the sofa, streaching out his long legs before him. Hikari followed suit, sitting down next to him. She pulled her legs close to her, so that her chin rested on her knees, arms wrapped around the legs. He put his hand around her, gently rubbing her back.  
  
"They'll find the one responsible, I'm sure they will", he whispered, hoping he sounded reassuring enough. He didn't feel as certain, though, but he wanted to avoid worrying her more than nescessary, at all cause. What if she strained herself? It was his great horror, he didn't want her to suffer.  
  
"Are you really", she mumbled. "I don't think they will. Do you know how many rapists who never get convicted? I looked it up on the Net, it's pretty scary. And even if they do catch him. Will that help Koushiro-san?"  
  
"Of course!"  
  
"How?"  
  
"Well." Takeru shifted uncomfortably. "Well, he'll know he's safe when he goes outside. That bastard will be put behind bars. He'll know it won't happen again."  
  
"Really? And what makes you so sure?" Her voice was flat, she stared into nothing. "Darkness exists within all men, Takeru. What makes you so sure someone else won't try something like that again? Rape him. Or beat him up. Kill him. You're never safe. And I think Koushiro-san will become very aware of that after this. If he makes it."  
  
Finding no words of comfort, Takeru leaned back in the sofa, sighing, closing his eyes.  
  
"Yeah. If."  
  
****  
  
"Yamato, get in here!" His father's voice was bright, he was in a good mood. Yamato shrugged to himself, putting down his aucustic guitar, and walked out to the living room. Masaharu sat on the floor, working on something that looked a lot like a miniature railroad.  
  
"Dad." Yamato stopped dead in his tracks, bewildered. "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
"I really wish you wouldn't use that language at home", his father muttered, then smiled at him. "I found this in one of the boxes I haven't looked inside for ages. I bought it to you when you were really tiny, you were so jealous at baby Takeru, so I thought I had to make you happy somehow."  
  
"Cool, dad. A real nostalgic flashback." Yamato sighed, but did kneel next to his father and picked up a part of the train. It was heavy, felt cold in his hand, and smelled of dust and iron. Hazy memories from his childhood stirred inside him, and he managed a smile.  
  
"It's cute, dad. Any reason you picked it up now? I mean. It's pretty weird."  
  
"No reason." Masaharu smiled. "I just needed to relax. It's been pretty wild down at the station recently."  
  
"I bet. A lot of news to cover, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
They sat quietly over an hour, playing with the railroad, each in his own thoughts. From time to time they spoke, friendly, neutral comments about nothing in particular. A part of Yamato really enjoyed these moments together with Masaharu. He almost felt close to the man, almost felt. normal. The other part hated this, it left him confused and angry. Why couldn't his father act like a jerk all the time, why did he have to have this side to him as well? It made it all the more difficult for Yamato to hate him. His hands began to shake in frustration, and he almost threw a piece of the railroad in the wall, when the doorbell rang.  
  
"I'll get it", he said, and Masaharu nodded.  
  
Yamato brushed dust and dirt from his pants, walking over to the front door. Opening it slightly, he said:  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Yamato-kun? Can I come inside?"  
  
"Jyou-san? I. I'll ask dad. You wait here, okay?"  
  
What was Jyou doing here? Was he angry because of the punsch? Sad? Eyebrows pulled together in a frown, Yamato walked back to the livingroom.  
  
"Dad, it's one of my friends. Kido Jyou, you know him. I didn't know he was coming over, but. Uhm. Can he come inside?"  
  
A frown flashed in Masaharu's face as well, but then he smiled.  
  
"Sure. You can ask him if he wants to help us build this baby if you want to."  
  
"Dad. No. No way!" Yamato blushed and stormed over to Jyou, cursing his dad up and down. He would not humiliate himself like that in front of a friend. He would not.  
  
****  
  
"He wants to see you", Koushiro's mom said quietly, tears flowing down her cheeks. She looked at Taichi, then hid her face in her hands, shoulders shaking hopelessly. Koushiro's dad looked grim, his arm around his wife's shoulders as the pair walked over to the policemen standing a few yards away.  
  
Taichi's parents smiled at him, giving him enough courage to go into the room where Koushiro laid. The boy with the biggest hair in all of Japan - or so he liked to think - nodded back, forcing a smile to his face. He swallowed hard. and opened the door.  
  
He wanted to cry.  
  
Koushiro lay with bandaids all around him, his face was swollen and ugly, he had something up his nose - Taichi couldn't remember what it was called, it gave you oxygen, didn't it? Helped you breathe. - and he looked so very miserable it almost broke Taichi's heart.  
  
"Yo", he greeted the younger boy, his voice barely recognisable to himself.  
  
"Taichi-san.I'm sorry I couldn't make it on time."  
  
"Don't!" Taichi surprised himself when he heard how sharp - or hysterical - his voice sounded. "Don't say that! Don't apologize! Hikari did that too, remeber? I told you. And it wasn't her fault. And this wasn't your fault, okay? Don't blame yourself!"  
  
He sat down on the chair next to Koushiro's bed, a hand hesitantly reaching out and patting the redhead's hair.  
  
"I'm just glad you're awake, Koushiro. The doctors says you're gonna be fine, if you just take it easy. Okay? You hear that? You have to take it easy. And I'll stay here and make sure you do that."  
  
"Taichi-san."  
  
"No buts. You're my friend. I'll be damned if I don't stick up for my friends when they need me. You're important to me, Koushiro. I want you to get well."  
  
"I. Thank you."  
  
Taichi swallowed, thinking his words over. The way he had put them. Yes, Koushiro was important to him. Very, very important. Taichi knew he liked both boys and girls. Did he like Koushiro that way? Maybe he did. Well, not wasn't the best time to tell Koushiro that, was it? If there would be a 'later', Taichi made a vow he'd tell Koushiro then. When things had calmed down. But now.  
  
"Koushiro. Do you. I mean. what did you tell the cops? Do you know who. who."  
  
"Who raped me?" Koushiro swallowed, looked away. "You can say it, Taichi- san. Why deny it? I was raped. I."  
  
Silence. Taichi waited with a patiens he didn't know he had. Then:  
  
"I know who did it. I told the police. I didn't really want too, Taichi, but I don't want him to do it again. So I told them. What if Yamato never forgives me?"  
  
Tears - Koushiro was crying! Taichi blinked in shock - streamed down the redhead's cheeks, and Taichi frowned.  
  
"There now. And. Why do you think Yamato will take offense.?"  
  
Taichi shut his mouth. Took a deep breath. Exhaled.  
  
"Dear Gods."  
  
****  
  
"Wanna listen?" Yamato waved a CD with Glay in his face, and Jyou nodded, looking over Yamato's next to empty bookshelf. Too bad Yamato didn't have any flowers in his room, it could really need a little touch of color, it looked pretty plain.  
  
"Yamato-kun. You have heard what happened to Koushiro, I persume.?"  
  
"I have. How could I not? It's all over the news. Horrible, though. Have you heard anything?"  
  
"Not much. Taichi-kun is down at the hospital, I think. I might call him later."  
  
"Yeah, me too."  
  
They sat down on Yamato's bed, only inches apart. Jyou felt his blood rise to a dangerously high level, and he could feel his face growing warm. He scolded himself, told himself to calm down, that this wasn't the time to act like some flirtatious schoolgirl, but his hormones wouldn't listen.  
  
"Jyou-san", Yamato said suddenly, his tone short. "You've been checking me out, haven't you? I can tell those things, you know."  
  
Now he definately blushed. Just typical. Why couldn't he ever act like an adult when it came to emotions?  
  
"I. No!"  
  
"Really? So. If I like kissed you know, you wouldn't like it?" Yamato smirked, leaning close, a hand seductivly on Jyou's leg.  
  
"Yamato. no! I. Why do you say that? Why are you.?"  
  
"Jyou-san." A low chuckle, almost friendly. At least Jyou hoped it was friendly. "You've been so obvious it isn't even funny. It's flattering, though. Besides. You're nice. You have the biggest fucking mouth in the world, but you're still kind of nice."  
  
At this, Jyou had no answer. And even if he wanted to, he couldn't.  
  
****  
  
The second time the doorbell rang, Masaharu sighed, frustrated. What was it now? He had a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he still walked over to the door and opened it. Four policemen stormed in, grabbing his arms and bending them up behind his back.  
  
"Ishida Masaharu, you are under arrest for sexually abuse of a minor."  
  
****  
  
. because Yamato pulled him close, and placed his lips over Jyou's, not letting the blue-haired boy go.  
  
To Be Continued. 


End file.
